Kalvebod Waves aspires to become Copenhagen’s new waterfront attraction

Posted: Thursday, September 05, 2013 |

The harbor-front project "Kalvebod Waves" officially opened on Aug. 30 at the Kalvebod Pier (Kalvebod Brygge) in Copenhagen. The design by Julien de Smedt Architects and KLAR with support from Sloth Møller and Niras Engineerswon first prize in a competition from December 2008. Not far from the popular Islands Brygge Park in the city, Kalvebod Waves is the latest phase of a long-term plan that aims to revive a formerly desolate section of the pier into a welcoming hub for urban and water activities.

After years of lackluster architecture and strong winds from the empty harbor in the '80s and '90s, Kalvebod Waves is described as a maritime park to reconnect the city to its waterfront. An interesting feature of the project is the positioning of the two main plazas that extend to the harbor waters. After JDS extensively studied the shadow patterns of neighboring structures during the day, the two plazas were placed in shadow-free zones to become resting islands where visitors can relax and fully enjoy the harbor's sunny spots.

Since its official opening, the re-designed harbor has reportedly already attracted public attention--and perhaps for years to come.

"Today, Friday, the 30th of August, marks the official opening of our harbor front project in Copenhagen, Kalvebod Waves, collectively designed by KLAR and JDS/JULIEN DE SMEDT ARCHITECTS with the support of Sloth Møller and Niras Engineers. Join in for a host of activities from sail tours, walking tours, drinks, DJs, and of course kayaking and swimming. For the inauguration, Copenhagen’s Technical and Environmental Mayor, Ayfer Baykal, will guide a boat tour of the Kalvebod area.

At the turn of the millennium, the center of Copenhagen was given an incredible breath of fresh air or rather fresh grass by the opening of Islands Brygge Park. The project injected some 28.000 m2 of outdoor space for all. In 2003, we, as PLOT (now JDS and BIG) designed the harbor bath project, which introduced a new concept of bathing and water sports to the capital. The success was immediate and the first real signs of the city turning itself back to its waterways became evident."

"Kalvebod Brygge is situated opposite the popular Copenhagen summer hang out, Islands Brygge. Kalvebod Brygge has the potential to be Islands Brygge’s more urban counterpart but has, until now, been synonymous with a desolated office address devoid of life and public activities.

This new waterfront will be a place for a larger spectrum of public activities. With a close connection to the central train station and Tivoli, Copenhagen’s famous city amusement park, ‘Kalvebod Bølge’, the ‘Kalvebod Waves’ will become a hub, buzzing with activity and providing a chance for the inner city to regain its connection to the harbour. Constituted more by its functionality than its tradition, this inner city site is less fragile than others and manifests Copenhagen’s contemporary urban waterfront with neighbouring entities such as the Black Diamond Library and the Nykredit building."

"What has doomed the Kalvebod area until now were the long shadows drawn by the imposing structures fronting it. We studied the course of those shadows throughout the day and the year and located two main pockets of shadow-free zones. We decided to program those areas as resting islands on the water."

"From there on, all we needed was to find an active way to reconnect those islands to the urban network and to make them relate to the city’s infrastructure. The original project extended that connective idea all the way to the nearby Langebro Bridge, allowing our project to completely connect and extend the Islands Brygge Park. We believed in the potential to drag the success of the nearby park onto this side of the harbor in the same way as we had dragged people from that park to the harbour bath 10 years ago. The bridge connections ended up being too costly and that part was dropped which in turn placed all our focus, energy and budget on the core of the project: the city side promenade, the two main squares and the programs to activate the entire complex."

"In connection with this space, an active water enclave is created, for various water-related activities. The plaza and surrounding pontoons provide the necessary facilities for these activities to function. The flow of boats that commute to and from the water hub also creates an active maritime background and secures the connectivity of the plaza to the rest of the city."

"The second square acts as an oasis on the water, providing both proximity and access. This recreational space, with a beach, allows for a break from the hectic pace of urban life, where a floating garden is proposed. A maritime park where urban and maritime life meet."